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This is a record of material that was recently featured on the Main Page as part of Did you know (DYK). Recently created new articles, greatly expanded former stub articles and recently promoted good articles are eligible; you can submit them for consideration.

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Did you know...[edit]

31 May 2006

19:34, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Sergei Lemeshev

...that, in the 1940s, the female fans of the Soviet tenor Sergei Lemeshev (pictured), often quarrelled with the fans of his rival, Ivan Kozlovsky?
...that the highest distinction among the Caloyers, a Greek monastic order, involves spending one's entire life alone, confined in a cave on top of a mountain?
...that Jesuit Filippo Salvatore Gilij proposed one of the earliest classifications of South American language families?
...that camelot is a woven fabric that might have originally incorporated camel or goat hair?
...that in order to subdue the heresy of Imiaslavie, the Russian Empire sent two transport ships and a gunboat to Mount Athos in Greece, and stormed the St. Panteleymon Monastery?
...that the Capitoline Games of Ancient Rome became so popular that the Romans counted periods of time by them, rather than their previous unit of lustrum?

30 May 2006

18:06, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

...that one of the peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro was named in honor of the pioneering Scottish Victorian photographer John Thomson?
...that the Callippic cycle was a 76-year cycle used to align the lunar calendar with the solar year more accurately than the famous Metonic cycle?
...that Ilsa Konrads, former editor of Belle, was an Australian Olympic swimmer who set 12 world records?
...that HMS Ocean never anchored in British waters during her entire period of active service in the Royal Navy?
...that manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions are sociological concepts for understanding the hidden reasons for actions and customs?
...that Stravinsky wrote his 1948 Mass partially in response to the masses of Mozart, which he called "rococo-operatic sweets-of-sin"?

00:21, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Manege Square (pictured) replaced a maze of tippling houses and taverns, traditionally known as "the belly of Moscow"?
...that Lucy Hobbs Taylor was the first female dentist in the United States?
...that Aristotle believed that a vital heat was produced in the heart, causing blood to boil and expand outward into the arteries with each pulsation?
...that Martin-Paul Samba went from being a favoured German collaborator to a feared rebel leader in colonial Cameroon?
...that the infant Red-bellied Lemur rides on both mother and father, but after age 33 days, only the father offers transport?
...that William Hawkins Polk, brother of President James Polk, was a U.S. Representative and ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples?

29 May 2006

00:08, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Land Run of 1889 resulted in the founding of both Oklahoma City and Guthrie, whose populations grew from zero to over 10,000 in less than a day? (pictured: Flag of Oklahoma)
...that the circulation of major Soviet sports newspaper Sovetsky Sport has declined from 5,000,000 in 1988 to 122,903 in 2006?
...that The Marine Mammal Center has rescued over 12,000 sea otters, sea lions, dolphins and other species, but also produces important scientific discoveries regarding marine chemistry?
...that a 17th century Polish politician Mikołaj Sienicki held the office of marshal of the Sejm nine times and was called a 'Polish Demosthenes' for his oratory skills?
...that Karl Zinsmeister, a U.S. journalist and the new top domestic policy advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush, wrote a book-length Marvel comic book on the Iraq War?
...that 1970's Super Typhoon Joan, the largest storm of the season in size, is the strongest typhoon ever to hit the Philippines?
...that Morris Fidanque de Castro, a life-long government servant, was the first Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands who was born in the territory?

28 May 2006

11:33, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

...that 19th-century Myriorama and moving panorama shows entertained audiences with stories of travel, adventure, and historic events scrolling past on huge rolls of painted canvas? (pictured: myriorama poster)
...that Francisco Portusach Martínez was appointed acting-Governor of Guam after the capture of the island by the U.S. Navy in 1898 because he was the only U.S. citizen living there?
...that Breakfast in the Ruins is the second novel by Michael Moorcock to feature Karl Glogauer as its protagonist, the other being Behold the Man?
...that Larch Wood (Railway Cutting) cemetery in Belgium was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and contains the grave of the playwright Alan Bennett's uncle?
...that jazz trombonist Kai Winding's song "Time Is on My Side" became a U.S. top ten hit for The Rolling Stones in 1964, and has been covered by Michael Bolton, Wilson Pickett, Paul Revere & the Raiders and Vanessa Carlton, among others as recently as 2005?
...that taking photos with a perspective correction or "tilt and shift" lens can mitigate the effect of vertical perspective?

27 May 2006

20:30, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the intensity of a tropical cyclone (pictured) is usually determined by the Dvorak technique using only visible and infrared satellite images?
...that Corinthian brass was a priceless metal alloy allegedly created as the city's hoard of precious metals melted together during the burning of Corinth in 146 BC?
...that Irish American mob informant Danny Greene drove a green car, wore green jackets, and had his union office repainted and recarpeted in green?
...that Dracorex hogwartsia was a dinosaur named for its resemblance to the Hungarian Horntail, a dragon in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series?
...that Howard T. Markey, the first chief judge of the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and a major general in the Air Force Reserve, asked his nursing home staff to alternate calling him judge and general?
...that although the tiny Hochstetters frog of New Zealand has no tail, it has atavistic tail-wagging muscles?

00:30, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

...that roars from lions and tigers in the menagerie at Exeter Exchange in central London scared horses in the street outside?
...that the manor of Ropsha, near Saint Petersburg, was the scene of tortures, a regicide, and the honeymoon of a Grand Duchess of Russia?
...that more than 200,000 railroad workers participated in the Great Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886, and the strike's collapse directly led to the formation of the American Federation of Labor?
...that Dogs Trust, a British animal welfare charity, provided AA wardens with pistols to painlessly euthanise animals injured in road accidents?
...that the 1635 Treaty of Sztumska Wieś between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden was of much interest to contemporary European diplomacy?

25 May 2006

23:23, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Neues Museum in Berlin, which was almost completely destroyed in World War II, will be reopened in 2009, and exhibit the bust of Nefertiti (pictured)?
...that Sal Castro was the teacher that inspired Mexican American students to protest unequal conditions in Los Angeles Unified School District schools, resulting in the 1968 East L.A. walkouts?
...that the 1996 season of the Super 12 was the first season of professional rugby union in the southern hemisphere following a US$550,000,000 deal between SANZAR and News Corporation?
...that William H. Hastie was the first African American to be appointed judge of a Federal District court (of the Virgin Islands); to be appointed to a U.S. Court of Appeals (Third Circuit); and to be Governor of the Virgin Islands?
...that the European Maritime Safety Agency was founded in 2002 to help prevent maritime accidents and marine pollution, in response to the Estonia, Erika and Prestige sea disasters?

12:37, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Madagascar dry deciduous forests (such as Anjajavy Forest, pictured right) contain many endangered and endemic species of lemurs, boas, and chameleons?

24 May 2006

02:53, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
...that Robinow syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder whose facial deformities were described by Meinhard Robinow with the term fetal facies, due to the resemblance of some patients' faces to that of a fetus?
...that Jakub Uchański, a 16th-century primate of Poland, was suspected of heresy and summoned to appear before the inquisition in Rome?
...that Benjamin Franklin Tilley, the first American governor of American Samoa, was put on trial and removed from office for allegedly receiving a massage from a native?
...that a regional park established to protect Nevėžis River ecosystem in Lithuania also breeds wisents?
...that the motif of "La Paloma," written by Sebastián Iradier in Cuba around 1863, can be traced back to an episode during the Greco-Persian Wars in 492 BCE?

23 May 2006

17:52, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

...that, although Mozart never visited Kroměříž, much of the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus was filmed at the local episcopal residence (pictured)?
...that A Perfect Vacuum, a 1971 book by Polish author Stanisław Lem, is an anthology of imaginary reviews of nonexistent books?
... that the disputed Sir Creek, a tidal estuary, has prevented India and Pakistan from setting a permanent maritime boundary in the Arabian Sea?
...that Harry Pursey started his career as a boy seaman in the Royal Navy, retired with the rank of Commander, and served as a Member of Parliament for twenty-five years?
...that Harvard's prestigious annual Dudleian lectures, endowed in 1750 for denouncing the supposed errors of Catholicism, were held by the Catholic Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini in 1998?
...that Dutch football manager Clemens Westerhof is credited with turning the Nigerian national team into a perennial powerhouse in African football, having guided them to victory in the 1992 African Cup of Nations as well as their first FIFA World Cup participation in 1994?

04:58, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the historical painting called the Black Admiral (pictured), long thought to depict an African-American Revolutionary War officer, has now been discovered to be a 1970s fraud?
...that partly because of issues highlighed by the London matchgirls strike of 1888, the Salvation Army opened up its own match factory in Bow, London in 1891, which used harmless red phosphorus and paid better wages?
...that Joseph Wallace Oman, a future Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, was awarded a Navy Cross during World War I for commanding the seized German SS Vaterland (renamed the USS Leviathan), and delivering almost 120,000 troops to the war effort in Europe?
...that during the French Revolution, the lawyer defending Marie Antoinette, Claude François Chauveau-Lagarde, came under such suspicion for the able defense he made, that he was forced to defend himself before the Comité de sûreté générale?
...that the 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Rajput Light Infantry, a regiment of the British Indian Army, uniquely possessed an Honorary Colour granted for service under General Lake in 1803 and employed an additional jemadar to carry it?

22 May 2006

14:43, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Mundum Neriyathum

...that the Mundum Neriyathum (pictured) is a remnant of the ancient saree worn by women in the South Indian state of Kerala including the Nair community noted for their matrifocality?
...that LT United's Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry "We Are The Winners" was so well-received by the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, that the group were invited to his Presidential Office to perform the song live for him?
...that the first pilgrimage made by Christopher Columbus upon discovering America was to the Royal monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe, the principal house of the monastic order of the Hieronymites?
...that Yakov Kulnev, a Russian general killed in action during Napoleon's invasion of Russia, was reputed to live in poverty, in order to emulate the soldiers of Roman antiquity that were his ideal?
...that the seal of Baruch ben Neriah, a legendary 6th century BCE scribe and disciple of the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, was found imprinted on two clay bullae excavated in 1975 and 1996?
...that the Basilica of Begoña in Bilbao, Spain has 24 bells, each imported from Switzerland?

03:22, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

...that schools of traditional Japanese arts such as Go, calligraphy, tea ceremony, Noh theatre and martial arts are based on a hereditary system of grand masters called Iemoto? (pictured: Sen no Riky?, founder of 3 schools of arts)
...that Eastley End House, in Surrey, was used as a base for "burglar-hunting" parties?
...that with some 150,000 customers per day, the Seventh-Kilometer Market outside of Odessa, Ukraine, is among the largest markets of the world and consists almost entirely of shipping containers?
...that Garry Parker ran the full length of the pitch at Wembley Stadium to score a goal for Nottingham Forest in the final of the Simod Cup against Everton in 1989, which Forest won 4-3?
...that legislation concerning slavery in ancient Greece allowed guardians of unmarried women who lost their virginity to sell them as slaves?

21 May 2006

13:33, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel (map at right) is a proposed underwater tunnel for rail transport of freight between central New Jersey and southern New York City, United States?
...that Tanaka Shosuke is the first recorded Japanese to have travelled to the Americas in 1610, on the Japanese-built ship San Buena Ventura?
... that in the case of Sue v Hill, the High Court of Australia decided that the United Kingdom was a "foreign power" to Australia, recognising Australia's complete independence?
...that during the Iberian War, Kavadh I tried to make peace with the new emperor Justinian I by attempting to have Justinian adopt his son Khosrau I?
...that Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of the Republic of Kalmykia and head of the World Chess Federation, built the multi-million dollar Chess City complex for hosting international chess tournaments?
...that after winning Germany's only Eurovision victory in 1982 with a record margin, Nicole performed her reprise of the winning song "Ein Bisschen Frieden" in four different languages?

02:34, 21 May 2006 (UTC)

...that a group of angry American colonists inspired by the Boston Tea Party gave the owner of a tea ship, Peggy Stewart (pictured) the option to burn his ship or be hanged on October 19, 1774?
...that Michael Moorcock wrote the book The City in the Autumn Stars in tandem with The Laughter of Carthage, one during the day, and the other at night?
...that ergs are huge (> 125 km²) fields of sand dunes and that approximately 85% of all the Earth's mobile sand is found in ergs that are larger than 32,000 km²?
...that cracker butterflies acquired their name because of the unusual sound that males produce as part of their territorial displays?
...that advanced practitioners of Japanese tea ceremony are awarded ceremonial tea names that may incorporate the names of animals, trees or flowers, natural phenomena, or personal characteristics, or may be based on Buddhist teachings?
...that Richie Evans holds the record for the most NASCAR championships with nine NASCAR Modified championships, including his posthumous championship in 1985, the first year of the Whelen Modified Tour?

20 May 2006

02:27, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

... that the first commission of printmaker Hashiguchi Goyo (pictured right, Goyo's Kamisuki) was to organize the layout and illustrations of Natsume Sōseki's novel I Am a Cat?
...that the oldest remaining structure showing the establishment of Buddhism in Australia are two bodhi trees planted by Sinhalese immigrants on Thursday Island in the 1890s?
...that Harold Hardwick, an Australian swimming gold medallist at the 1912 Olympics, was also a national boxing champion and later an army colonel?
...that throughout the Second World War, there were four formations that carried the name of Polish 8th Infantry Division and two of them existed simultaneously?
...that the MacHeths were a Gaelic kindred who raised several rebellions against the Scotto-Norman kings of Scotland in the 12th and 13th centuries?
...that Broadway producer Jed Harris was the inspiration for both Laurence Olivier's interpretation of Richard III, and Walt Disney's Big Bad Wolf?

19 May 2006

12:50, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Heart Mountain (pictured) in Wyoming, USA, was transported to its current location by the largest landslide ever discovered, approximately 50 million years ago?
...that tent pegging is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the International Equestrian Federation?
...that the University of Liberia, founded in 1862, is the oldest institute of higher learning in West Africa?
...that an unnamed hurricane in October, 1804 brought up to three feet of snow to parts of New England?
...that Wojciech Bartosz Głowacki, a peasant, became a Polish national hero after he captured a Russian cannon during the Battle of Racławice?
...that one of the Sunken Forests of New Hampshire off the coast of Rye, New Hampshire, hasn't been above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean since 1978?

01:03, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Transport typeface was created for use on British road signs (pictured) following the introduction of the motorway network?
...that people with a Schatzki ring can develop sudden crushing chest pain, often termed the "steakhouse syndrome", if they do not chew their food properly?
...that the Sansenke, or "three houses of Sen," the three main schools of Japanese tea ceremony, are all associated with 16th-century tea master Sen no Rikyu and his descendents?
...the movie Spy Game depicts a burn bag, albeit used in an unintended manner?
...that Jim Roper was credited with NASCAR's first Strictly Stock (now NEXTEL Cup) win after apparent winner Glenn Dunnaway was found to have illegally modified springs?
...that, although Catherine II of Russia wished Sophia Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo to remind her of the Hagia Sophia, the church was built in an austere Palladian style?

18 May 2006

16:52, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

...that each kind of nut in mixed nuts must compose between 2% and 80% of the total weight to pass inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration?
...that Duke Kahanamoku won the 100m freestyle at the 1912 Olympics after the eventual silver medallist Cecil Healy lobbied against Duke's semifinal disqualification for turning up late?
...that Patrick Carr's statement that British troops were not to blame in the Boston Massacre was the first use of the "dying declaration" exception to the general inadmissibility of hearsay evidence?
...that the unanimous decision Holmes v. South Carolina (reversing the conviction of a man who was barred from arguing that another man committed the crime) was the first decision written by Samuel Alito as a Supreme Court Justice?
...that James W. Patterson, a Senator from New Hampshire, was a professor of mathematics, astronomy, and meteorology?
...that Battlefield Baseball, a Japanese film, features elements of the sports, martial arts and horror genres, as well as including three musical numbers?

05:27, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Super Typhoon Chanchu of 2006 (pictured) was only the second super typhoon recorded in the South China Sea?
...that Ukrainian politician Mykola Tomenko is also an Afghan war veteran and a noted historian?
...that Domenico Gabrielli, one of the first composers to write solo music for the violoncello, was himself a virtuoso cello player and earned himself the Italian dialect nickname Minghino dal viulunzeel among his contemporaries?
...that Rodney J. Baxter, known for the Yang-Baxter equation in statistical mechanics, was the first doctoral graduate in theoretical physics from the Australian National University?
...that Dominican baseball player Tetelo Vargas led the Dominican Republic's winter baseball league in 1952, hitting for an average of .350 at the age of 46?

17 May 2006

15:53, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Georgia: 12th century

...that, during the Mongol invasions of Georgia, Queen Rusudan of Georgia informed Pope Honorius III that the Mongols were pagans, not Christians, as thought on account of their fighting Muslims? (pictured: Kingdom of Georgia)
...that The Nationwide Project was a media audience research project at the University of Birmingham that influenced media and cultural studies?
...that John Konrads, an Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer who set 26 individual world records, later became the Australasian director of L'Oréal?
...that in the Kasabach-Merritt syndrome, tumours of blood vessels can cause life-threatening bleeding complications in infants?
...that the Agony of Doha is a term used by fans of the Japanese national football team to refer to the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match where Japan lost its World Cup place to South Korea?

16 May 2006

21:43, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Merritt-Chapman & Scott, a marine salvage and construction firm, investigated the USS Maine sinking in 1898, sank the USS Moody in 1933, and raised the Normandie in 1943? (pictured: MC&S Salvage Tug)
...that, once completed, the Stateline Wind Project on the Oregon-Washington border in the United States will be the largest wind farm in the world?
...that in the Polish legislative election, 1947, the communist-controlled Polish government, advised by specialists from Soviet Ministry for State Security, ensured its victory by vote rigging?
...that in the 1848 Moray Firth fishing disaster on the east coast of Scotland, 124 boats sank and 100 fishermen perished, leading to a major redesign of fishing boats in the following years?
...that Laurynas Gucevičius was the first professional Lithuanian architect in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and is the most famous representative of Lithuanian classicism?
...that the critical behaviour of the spherical model in statistical mechanics has been solved for arbitrary real positive dimensions, and is the same for dimensions greater than four?

12:49, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

... that the Kisdon Force (pictured) is not an elite military unit, but rather a waterfall in North Yorkshire, England?
...that Hell Below, a 1933 WW I film, set the pattern for many WW II submarine dramas, and featured the deliberate sinking of USS Moody, slated for destruction by the London Naval Treaty?
...that Mukh O Mukhosh (The face and the mask), directed by Abdul Jabbar Khan, is the first full-length Bengali language feature film to be produced in the erstwhile East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh?
...that over-illumination, the use of unnecessarily intense light, not only wastes 1.5 billion barrels of oil per year, but is also linked to increased incidence of headache, fatigue, stress, coronary artery disease and erectile dysfunction?
... that the Arabic poet Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz ruled as caliph of the Abbasid dynasty for only a single day before he was strangled to death?
...that the San Francisco garter snake is an endangered species capable of digesting toxic newts but is not found in San Francisco?

15 May 2006

21:34, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

...that chaki (pictured), tea caddies for Japanese tea ceremonies, are traditionally made from wood, bamboo, or ceramic, and are classified by material, shape and the type of tea they are designed to hold?
...that Ernst Reuter, after having not been approved by the Soviets as the elected mayor of post-war Berlin, became the first mayor of the non-Soviet controlled part of the city, West Berlin?
...that Makhir of Narbonne was a Babylonian-Jewish scholar who settled in Narbonne, France at the end of the 8th century, and his descendants were leaders of the local Jewish community who bore the title of "nasi" (prince)?
...that the nucleus of the 13,000 manuscripts that are just part of the Biblioteca Marciana of Venice, is made up from the personal library of Petrarch and the collection of Cardinal Bessarion?
...that John Davies, the U.S. District Court judge who presided over the trial of a group of LAPD officers in the Rodney King incident, won gold for Australia in the 200m breaststroke at the 1952 Olympics?

07:26, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

...that ship tracks (pictured) are clouds that form around the exhaust released by ships and appear as long strings over the ocean?
...that Patience Dabany, former First Lady of Gabon, is also a successful recording artist?
...that the first mizuya (水屋, literally "water room") was created by 16th-century Japanese tea master Sen no Rikyu for his tea room?
...that, as a result of the Treaty of Yazhelbitsy, the medieval state of Muscovy doubled in size?
...that Hulk Hogan's Pastamania was a restaurant located in the Mall of America and created by the WWE's Hulk Hogan, and that it failed spectacularly?

14 May 2006

15:17, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Smolensk streets after liberation

...that, during the two-month Second Battle of Smolensk, the Red Army broke through the German defense setup, recaptured Smolensk, and started to liberate occupied Belarus?
...that the movie The Iron Ladies is based on a real-life team of transsexuals and homosexuals that won the Thai national volleyball tournament?
...that the United States has a numerical system of bicycle routes (similar to the system for roads and highways), which hasn't been expanded since its creation in 1982?
...that although the director of Bollywood comedy Malamaal Weekly has offered money to anyone who can show that it is not an original work, several reviewers have labelled it a remake of Waking Ned?
...that the Soviet censors initially discouraged the performance of "The Victory Day", one of the most popular Russian songs to come out of World War II?

13 May 2006

20:14, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the 44 hour and 54 minute transit time of the 1905 Scott Special between Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois, wasn't beaten in regular railway operations until the 1937 launch of the Super Chief?
...that there is a dispute over when the Chief Whip's powers governing the votes of the Barisan Nasional's Members of the Malaysian Parliament are in force?
...that the Carnac stones, with over 3000 neolithic menhirs, contain the largest stone rows of its kind in the world?
...that the 17th century Field Cathedral of the Polish Army was one of many buildings destroyed by the Luftwaffe during the Warsaw Uprising, and was restored to its former glory between 1946 and 1960?
...that DJ Gruff, pioneer of Italian hip hop, was forced to retract a song violently attacking Articolo 31, another Italian hip hop band?
...that the Yuba Goldfields, said to resemble intestines from the air, are a bizarre collection of gravel mountains, ponds, and streams that remained a major source of gold long after the California Gold Rush?

13:12, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Rex, presidential dog

...that Rex, Ronald Reagan's pet Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, lived at the White House in a lavish doghouse decorated with framed portraits of the First Family?
...that, although Louis IX of France won the Saintonge War against England, he chose not to annex Guyenne on account of dynastic sensibilities?
...that the shortest binomial name of a species is Ia io, which belongs to the Great Evening Bat?
...that Creigh Deeds lost the 2005 race for Attorney General of Virginia by only 323 votes out of almost two million cast?
...that Kevin Berry, former Pictorial Editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, won the 200m butterfly at the 1964 Summer Olympics?
...that the Reverend John Thomson, distinguished landscape painter and former minister of Duddingston Kirk, is often credited with originating the famous Scots adage "We’re a' Jock Tamson’s bairns"?

00:35, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Michigan State University academic programs include the United States' first University-level packaging program?
...that the Indigenous Australian languages had no written form until colonisation, when they were transcribed into the Latin alphabet?
...that according to Thomas Carlyle, Prussia's victory in the minor Battle of Hoyerswerda wrecked the 1759 campaign of the anti-Prussian coalition in the Seven Years' War?
...that Lord Simon of Glaisdale ended his career as a Law Lord and cross-bench life peer, but was earlier a Conservative MP who held three ministerial positions?
...that Kevin O'Halloran, a swimming gold medallist at the 1956 Summer Olympics, died after accidentally tripping and shooting himself?
...that the Swiss municipality Rüegsau is connected to its neighbor Hasle bei Burgdorf by what is probably the longest wooden arch bridge in Europe, at a length of 58.5 meters?

12 May 2006

14:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Mafeking Cadet Corps, volunteer boy cadets in the Siege of Mafeking, are sometimes seen as the forerunners of the Scouts, and were depicted on one of the only British stamps not to depict the monarch?
...that dead cats were reportedly thrown into the grave of "Rape-master General" Colonel Francis Charteris?
...that NASA terraforming expert Christopher McKay has explored the Gobi Desert, Siberia and Antarctica to study extremophilic life forms?
...that tickets bought for the ceremonial opening of Kiev Republican Stadium scheduled for June 22, 1941 were still valid 7 years later, as the event was "postponed until after the Victory" due to the Nazi invasion to the USSR?
...that in the Shanghai ghetto, a part of the city occupied by Imperial Japan, about 20,000 German and Austrian Jews escaped the Holocaust?
...that graves in Singapore are exhumed 15 years after burial, and the remains are cremated or re-buried?

12 May 2006

02:36, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
...that the Peruvian song "El Cóndor Pasa" was popularised by a 1970 cover version by Simon and Garfunkel, although the original Quechua lyrics were entirely re-written?
...that in the aftermath of the Defence of the Polish Post in Danzig, in the Polish September Campaign of 1939, all the Polish civilians who had held out for 15 hours against the SS-led assault were executed?

11 May 2006

16:31, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the vagaries of the Couesnon River place Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy rather than Brittany?
...that until the 1990s, the Heckler & Koch MP5 and the Uzi were the only weapons designed outside of the United States that were as widespread in Hollywood productions as the U.S.-produced Colt M1911 pistols, M16 assault rifles, Tommy Guns and revolvers?
...that Marie Selipha Sesenne Descartes, better known simply as Sesenne, was a Saint Lucian singer and cultural icon who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1972?
...that the snipers of the Kremlin Regiment killed a total of more than 1,200 German soldiers and officers during the Soviet-German War?
...that bowls player Willie Wood was the first athlete to compete in 7 Commonwealth Games, despite being barred from the 1986 games in his home country of Scotland for refusing to reclassify as an amateur?

10 May 2006

18:14, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Russian Futurists 1912 manifesto, A Slap in the Face of Public Taste, argued that past artists such as Pushkin, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy should be "heaved overboard from the steamship of modernity"?
...that Michael Matz, who trained the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, saved the lives of four children on the ill-fated United Airlines Flight 232 in 1989, and also carried the U.S. flag at the 1996 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies?
...that the statues of St. Andrew and Samson from the Fountain of Samson in Kiev were stored in a museum before the beginning of WWI, saving them from destruction by the Bolsheviks?
...that Martyn J. Fogg, a doctoral student in planetary science at the University of London and a dental surgeon, wrote the first technical book on terraforming and planetary engineering?
...that the unconventionally named Boots Mallory was a teenage dancer and model who appeared in Hollywood films of the 1930s, largely as a result of her good looks?

9 May 2006

15:06, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Miss Cranston pioneered the social phenomenon of tea rooms, introducing "fairyland"-like interiors designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh?
...that the war between Russia and Sweden from 1741 to 1743 involved a change of ruling dynasties in both countries?
...that throughout the development of science, many ideas have been obliterated by incorporation?
...that the Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Belgium is the tallest boat lift in the world at 73 metres high and has a structural mass of 200,000 tonnes?
...that Ruparel College in Mumbai, India boasts nuclear physicist Anil Kakodkar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai among its alumni?

8 May 2006

22:48, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Gaylord Building, key to building the I&M Canal, was restored so successfully that Ronald Reagan presented Gaylord Donnelly, millionaire grandson of a former owner, with the President's Award for Historic Preservation?
...that Pablo Picasso's Dora Maar au Chat, a 1941 portrait of Picasso's mistress Dora Maar, recently sold for $95.2 million, making it one of the most expensive paintings in the world?
...that disqualification protests were lodged against Clare Dennis, the winner of the 200 m breaststroke at the 1932 Summer Olympics, on the grounds of her "inappropriate" costume, which exposed her shoulderblades?
...that India's Operation Meghdoot to capture the Siachen Glacier in 1984 was the first assault launched in the world's highest battlefield?
...that newly-launched First News, a British weekly newsmagazine for children with a unique focus on current events, is headed by "editorial overlord" and ex-Mirror editor Piers Morgan?
...that Huron University, the first institute of higher education to grant a degree in the then-Dakota Territory, closed in 2005 after 123 years of existence and had its assets auctioned off?

09:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

...that actinoform clouds form a distinct leaf-like or spokes-on-a-wheel pattern, and can spread out to over 300 kilometers across?
...that Israfil Mamedov, the first Azeri Hero of the Soviet Union, killed about seventy Germans, including three officers, during the Battle of Moscow on December 3, 1941?
...that Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island was used as a staging area by the Union Army during the American Civil War, and that more than 230 Union troops were buried there?
...that controlled water landings or ditchings by commercial airliners, whilst rare, can often be survived by passengers and crew?
...that the final episode of Kamen Rider Stronger, a Japanese tokusatsu television series, features appearances from the main characters of every previous series in the franchise?
...that in 1988 the Greek passenger ferry, City of Poros, was the victim of a terrorist attack by members of the Abu Nidal Organisation which left nine tourists dead and 98 injured?

7 May 2006

06:59, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Moorish Revival spread around the globe as a preferred style of 19th-century synagogue architecture because the Mudéjar style was associated with the golden age of Jewry in medieval Muslim Spain?
...that following the Mississauga train derailment of 1979, nearly 250,000 people had to be evacuated for up to five days while toxic chemicals that had spilled onto the railway tracks were cleaned up?
...that Escape from Paradise, a book which documents a Singaporean woman's divorce, was removed from bookstores and libraries in the country in 2002, even after it had been reviewed in the Singapore press?
...that in Persia, non-Muslims were considered to be najis (ritually unclean) by Shi'a Muslims, and were not allowed to go outside in rain or snow for fear that some impurity could be washed from them onto a Muslim?
...that the Funicular dos Guindais was originally built to carry cargo - including port wine - from the Ribeira quayside to the centre of Porto, and is now a tourist attraction and one of the world's steepest counter-balanced cable railways?

6 May 2006

14:19, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Parachute Jump, an 80-m steel tower, was relocated to Coney Island two years after the 1939 New York World's Fair?
...that forensic electrical engineering is a branch of forensic engineering whose primary role is to investigate whether a fire was caused by the failure of an electrical appliance?
...that the Merton Thesis holds that Protestantism had significant influences on the course of the scientific revolution?
...that Sara Christian was the first woman to compete in a NASCAR race, the only woman to have a Top Five finish, and the recipient of the 1949 United States Drivers's Association Woman Driver of the Year award?
...that the character of Betts, played by Andrew Paul, was the only inmate seen to be released from the borstal–albeit temporarily–during the controversial British film Scum?
...that prisoners of the Iraqi Special Tribunal are transported in armored buses called Rhino Runners?

5 May 2006

20:36, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the audience of the Dorset Garden Theatre in Restoration London found it fashionable and convenient to arrive by boat, thereby avoiding the crime-ridden area of Alsatia?
...that Dmitry Pavlov, who was appointed to the rank of General of the Army in 1941, was the highest-ranking Soviet commander to be executed for military incompetence during the World War II, only to be exonerated in 1956?
...that rail transportation in Okinawa dates back to 1902, when the island's first line started operations to haul sugarcane, but the Okinawa Monorail is the only line still in operation?
...that Höhlgangsanlage 8, built in Jersey during World War II under the occupation of the Channel Islands by German forces, was a partially completed underground hospital complex with over 1 km of tunnels?
...that according to the Marlovian theory of Shakespearean authorship, works attributed to William Shakespeare were actually written by playwright Christopher Marlowe, who faked his own death in 1593 to continue writing under a Shakespeare pseudonym?
...that Livadia Palace, a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, was the setting of the 1945 Yalta Conference between the Big Three?

4 May 2006

21:23, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, designed by David B. Steinman in 1931, came in so far under budget that another bridge was built with the money saved?
...that Olaus Johannis Gutho (d. 1516), who was a student at the newly founded University of Uppsala from 1477 until at least 1486, and later became a monk in the Abbey of Vadstena, left seven bound volumes of lecture notes that have been preserved until today?
...that Corippo, despite being a contender for Switzerland's smallest municipality with a population of only 17, has its own website, coat of arms, mayor and town council?
...that three years after Anders Uppström had published his edition of the 6th-century Codex Argenteus, a dying library janitor presented him with ten leaves that had been missing from the manuscript for over two decades?
...that the Free Economic Society, founded at the instigation of Catherine II of Russia in 1765, was briefly closed down by the imperial Russian authorities in 1900 amid accusations of fomenting revolutionary upheaval?
...that Novgorod's medieval river pirates, called ushkuiniki, wreaked havoc along the Volga River as far downstream as Kazan and Astrakhan?

09:50, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

...that since the floods of 2004-2005, the riparian areas of Hendrick Island have been choked by debris from upstream in the Delaware River?
...that the English composer Anthony Payne, who completed a version of Elgar's third symphony, has also composed a version of Elgar's incomplete Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6?
...that the media reports that Deborah Freund, Vice Chancellor and Provost for Academic Affairs at Syracuse University, is to replace Albert Carnesale as the chancellor of UCLA?
...that Nerima Daikon Brothers is a rare musical comedy format anime series that pokes fun at Junichiro Koizumi, Michael Jackson, Bae Yong Joon, and other contemporary topics in Japan?
...that the International Cricket Council awarded Australia and New Zealand the hosting rights to the 2015 Cricket World Cup because they were sufficiently impressed with their 2011 bid which lost to Asia by 7 votes?
... that the Tennessee State Museum has one of the largest collections in the United States of weapons, flags, and uniforms from the American Civil War?

3 May 2006

23:11, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

...that the affair between Teresa Bagioli Sickles and Philip Barton Key was the motive for the murder committed by Teresa's husband, who became the first person to successfully use the insanity defense in U.S. legal history?
...that, during the Russo-Swedish War, 1656-1658, the Russians had to lift their siege of Riga after foreign officers of the Russian flotilla had defected to the other side?
...that David Clyde was the first person selected in the 1973 MLB Draft and signed to a $125,000 bonus, the highest bonus ever given to a draft pick at the time?
...that Nikolai Skoblin was a general in the counterrevolutionary White Russian army, a leader of the expatriate Russian All-Military Union, a Bolshevik double-agent, and a Gestapo agent?
...that the Chesed-El Synagogue, built in 1905, is the second synagogue for the Jewish community in Singapore, and was one of the first places to use gaslights in Singapore?

14:50, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Russian sculptor Anna Golubkina used the same model for her sculpture, The Old Age, as Auguste Rodin had used for his sculpture, The Thinker, 14 years earlier?
...that Frank Beaurepaire, a Lord Mayor of Melbourne, member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly and multi-millionaire tyre businessman was a six-time Olympic medallist in swimming who set 15 world records in his swimming career?
...that The Masked Rider mascot of Texas Tech University wears a black and red outfit and rides his black horse around to enthuse fans of the Texas Tech Red Raiders?
...that Michelle Ford was the first woman to win individual swimming medals at the Olympics in two distinct specialized strokes?
...that the Lake Tanganyika passenger ferry MV Liemba began its life as a German warship in World War I, spent eight years on the bottom of the lake, and later portrayed the Empress Luisa in the film The African Queen?
...that the houses at Roman Bulla Regia in Tunisia were built in two levels, a ground level to catch winter sun and a subterranean one round an open atrium for coolness in summer?

2 May 2006

18:50, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
...that Cedric Griffin, the only University of Texas football player ever to return a blocked field goal for a touchdown, was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings?
...that firing of Anna Walentynowicz, a Polish free trade union activist, was one of the events that led to the giant wave of strikes in Poland and eventually the creation of Solidarity?
...that Cyclone Mala was the strongest tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal to be named, although several unnamed cyclones have been stronger?
...that when Rollie Free rode his motorcycle to a land speed record in 1948, he was wearing only a Speedo bathing suit, a shower cap, and a pair of borrowed sneakers?
...that Gustav Adolf von Götzen, a German explorer and Governor of German East Africa, was the first European to set foot in Rwanda?

1 May 2006

18:48, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

...that Reaper, a 105-year-old historic Fifie herring drifter, nearly sank off the north east coast of England after being restored and put back into service as a museum ship?
...that the Kremlin stars, crowning five towers of the Moscow Kremlin since the 1930s, are made of ruby glass?
...that John Devitt was awarded a gold medal in the 100m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome despite all three timekeepers awarding a faster time to the silver medallist?
...that the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, a Maoist group, took part in the Liberation War of Bangladesh but continued armed activities after the independence of the country?
...that Władysław Filipkowski, a Polish resistance fighter and commander of the Lwów Uprising against Nazi Germany occupiers in 1944, was soon afterwards arrested by the Soviet NKVD and imprisoned for three years?